Wk 9 - day 40

the second day of this 3 day activity was computer work. the students were directed to pick a virus...i always tell them the bloodier the better...and prepare a short presentation for the class tomorrow. i like to think i know my students well...who are 12/13 years old... and what grabs their attention. talking about bloody eyes, black vomit, 2 billion dead from a flu, movies with interesting viruses like "i am legend" gets their interest. once again, the majority of students were hard at work. i had brought portable computer labs to the room and had the librarian check out a cart full of books...all on viruses. i had one or two students every hour that needed a little poking. i just get a kick off of students coming up to me and telling me "ohhh...look at this virus...puss-filled pustules!!" one student had me look at a picture of a virus that was zoomed in...large and scary looking. i said it looked way cool. the student giggled and said i was so cool that i thought a virus was neat looking. she really meant what she said...she wasn't being disrespectful. she said she never had a teacher who thought stuff like that...viruses, etc...was interesting and she liked it. i don't want to toot my horn, but her grade has gone from a D to a B and science is one of her favorite classes. i don't want any student in my room to feel invisible and i think she's "invisible" in a lot of classes...i make sure to have a conversation with her every day.

not much else happened...just work on viruses. i had put a transparency on the overhead projector that had the areas to cover for the presentation. i don't like spending unnecessary time repeating myself...so i simply would point to the projected image on the wall when they panicked and forgot what to include. everyone kept asking me if they needed to type the report, power points, etc. i told them they could do whatever they wanted...so i had a mixture of everything. i told them i was grading them on the information i would be listening to tomorrow.

mrs. s had made the comment that she would've had the students draw viruses out of a hat to make sure that they had viruses and not bacteria caused illnesses. i told her that when i had stood by the door saying "see you later" the day prior, i was also asking the students who their partner was and what virus they were doing before they could leave the classroom. she nodded her head and said that was good. i fully respect and appreciate my cooperating teachers, but it makes me smile when i'm one step ahead of them too.